


Twelve seconds to midnight

by sarrysar



Category: Ensemble Stars! (Video Game)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-06
Updated: 2019-08-06
Packaged: 2020-08-10 21:09:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20142031
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sarrysar/pseuds/sarrysar
Summary: Tsumugi never celebrates birthdays.





	Twelve seconds to midnight

Sitting down on the stairs behind the school, Tsumugi finally exhales. He's always holding his breath in some way - to remain quiet and unseen in the back of the room, biting his tongue to keep himself from saying one word too much and ruining his benevolent foolish image. And it's fine - it's how he's lived all this time, but sometimes it feels just a little too much like suffocating, today more than most days.

It's not like nothing changed at all in a year, he tells himself to cheer himself up somewhat. A lot can change in a year. He's no longer just living life as an observer, as a silent person in the shadows, existing on the edges of this reality and subtly tugging the strings here and there to push things in the right direction. He likes to think he's more now - at least a little more than an empty husk thrown around by the winds of destiny.

He finally has...some initiative to believe that numbers and analysis can't predict his entire future after all. That there's something in this world that cannot be analyzed or predicted. Something a little bit like magic, or maybe hope. But it's a surprisingly scary thought, much more frightening than being a horseman of the apocalypse had been.

Something hits the back of his head, interrupting this gloomy train of thought.

"Ouch!" Tsumugi rubs the back of his head, picking up the small package messily wrapped in brown paper that rolled across the floor. "What's this? Uuu, did I miss a piece of trash while cleaning the classroom?"

A menacing shadow appears above him, and he hears the shadow's owner click his tongue in annoyance. "Sen-pa-iiii. You're lucky I didn't thrOW something heavIER."

"Ah, Natsume-kun!" Tsumugi quickly cracks a small smile, hoping Natsume didn't register he'd been wallowing in murky thoughts again. Natsume would know, probably. Natsume always knows. "What are you doing in school at this hour?"

_"None of your busiNESS," Natsume tch-es_ _, _but still makes his way over, sitting down next to Tsumugi and stubbornly staring into the distance, into the farthest point from Tsumugi that he can find. "What are YOU doing in school at this HOUR, especially TONIGHT."

"Tonight?" Tsumugi tilts his head to the side, feigning surprise. "I suppose I should've gone home after such a successful practice, you're right, Natsume-kun."

"Stop acting stupid, senPAI," Natsume snatches the little package out of Tsumugi's hands, looking almost like he's sulking a little. "I know everyTHING."

He finally looks at Tsumugi, and repeats, a little more seriously. "I know everything."

Tsumugi gives in with a sigh. "I suppose it was silly of me to think I could hide it from Natsume-kun whose amount of forbidden knowledge rivals even mine, heh," he rubs the back of his head, fluffing up his hair. "I'm not good at these things. I don't know what you wanted me to say."

Natsume narrows his eyes, staring at him intensely, and then he gives a little scoff. "Happy birthday, senPAI."

"Ahhh, hahaha, actually hearing it feels super embarrassing," Tsumugi crosses his arms, and then uncrosses them. "What's next, Natsume-kun brought me a present, haha?"

This time when Natsume stares at him like an idiot he honestly means it, and he throws the little package back into Tsumugi's hands with a bit more force than necessary.

"Oh, you actually..." Tsumugi's eyes dart from the package, to Natsume, to the package, then to Natsume, who actually looks a bit more embarrassed than pissed off now. "Oh, Natsume-kun, you shouldn't have..."

"Open it beFORE I change my MIND."

Tsumugi reaches for the paper wrapping to tear it open, but then hesitates. "Why? I never celebrated my birthday, or anything. You couldn't have known unless you actually went through the school records searching for it. Haha, I feel somehow important now."

"whY?"

"Well, you bought me a present and I was going to keep it secret from you, and haven't even treated you to lunch or anything."

"IdiOT." Natsume blinks. "I meant, whY do you keep your own birthday secret? It's not like you're some wildly popular PERSON who would be showered with too much attENTION."

"Haha, I know." Tsumugi shrugs. "But it's not like it's some special occasion. It's just the day I was born, everyone else keeps living their life as usual. Even I'll wake up tomorrow and won't feel any different."

"You reaLLY won't feel any different?"

"Uh..." Tsumugi glances at him over his glasses.

"Where were you this time last YEAR, senPai?" Natsume is avoiding his gaze again, staring somewhere over his shoulder.

"You know where I was," Tsumugi says quickly.

"Look around. You're not there anymore. And neither am I. Even if you weren't looking forward to it, or expecting it, the future is here. So stop mulling over the past."

"But what happened happened," Tsumugi scrunches the paper in his hands. "And I did what I did. Is it really okay for me to enjoy the present, Natsume-kun."

"You did," says Natsume, his voice oddly flat. "But no amount of wallowing in self pity will fix it. You can only keep your head up and do your best."

"I know. You're always telling me that." Tsumugi lowers his head. "Why did you buy me a present, Natsume-kun? Why do you bother repeating this stuff to me?"

"Just open your prESENT." Natsume dodges the question, absent-mindedly spinning the long strand of his hair around his finger. "before I change my MIND."

"I'm opening it, I'm opening it, no need to doubt me!" Tsumugi tears the paper. Whatever is inside is carefully wrapped in thousands of layers, like it was meant to soften the blow if it hit your head for whatever reason. When Tsumugi finally finds the actual present it's small and dark and circular and he has to squint to see it in the dark."

"A pocket watch?" he lifts his eyebrows, running his thumb over the finely crafted surface. "Oh, Natsume-kun, that's more than I was expecting, I don't know what to say..."

"It's not like I spent a lot of time choosing it, OKAY? It was just sitting around and I didn't want to let it go to waSTE. Besides, glancing at your phOne to check the tIME all the time doesn't suit YOU."

Tsumugi presses the tiny button on the side and the watch clicks open. He studies the delicate engraving, the tiny swirly numbers, the - oh. The clock hands are shaped like stars. Three of them - a tiny one circling the watch quickly and nimbly, a bigger one going at its own pace, and finally the biggest one, seemingly standing in place but still moving slowly, the two smaller ones urging it forward."

"Three stars!" A small genuine smile appears on Tsumugi's face before he can register it. "Just like Switch!"

"Is IT?" Natsume frowns stubbornly. "I didn't notICE."

Tsumugi carefully closes it but before he can pocket it, Natsume stops him. "WAIT. I still haven't cast my magIC yet."

"Oh, there's more? What did I do to deserve a spell from Natsume-kun himself as a present.."

"Shut UP. And close your EYES, now."

Tsumugi does. He feels Natsume take the watch from his hands and hears a small sound, but he waits patiently as he was instructed. Ten seconds pass, then ten more, in complete silence. Then Natsume says. "Now, open."

"That's it?" Tsumugi blinks slowly. "Uuu, there I was, thinking I might even get a birthday kiss."

Natsume smacks the back of his head as he hands him the watch back. "Now LOOK."

Tsumugi studies the watch closely, but it looks the same as before. Natsume must've read his confused expression, because he sighs. "It's set to five minutes in the FUTURE. So you don't get STUCK in the past again."

Oh. Tsumugi doesn't know why, because this objectively makes little sense, but tears _almost _well up in his eyes and he has to hold his breath very tightly to stay Tsumugi, smiley Tsumugi, helpful Tsumugi, just a bit too familiar with the concept of suffering Tsumugi. But in the end he can't really do it and he quickly wipes the corner of his eyes with his sleeve.

"GrOSS," says Natsume. "Now make a WISH. Quickly, or bad fortune will follow you until your next birthDAY."

"A wish, huh..." Tsumugi's mind whirrs. There used to be so many things he wanted. Desperate, grown-up dreams that would turn his hands all bloody. But he can't really think of any now. "I want to celebrate my next birthday with Natsume-kun and Sora-kun, just like this, and laugh and have lots of fun."

"InteresTING." Says Natsume. "We'll see if it can come true."

Tsumugi laughs a little, and tucks the watch safely into his pocket, and under the stars, he dreads this day next year a little less. Natsume gives an annoyed little huff. And if he does consider a birthday kiss, that's no one's business but his own.

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